Downtown Druid

Book 2 Chapter 12: He Was a Rat and Had more Practical Concerns

Jacopo moved quickly through the city, using the mental map Dantes had given him to move toward Uptown. Dantes hadn’t frequented that part of the city, as most were turned away at the gates unless they could prove they had business there, but there were ways through for those who really wanted to be there, and Dantes had the distinct memories of being escorted through for his sentencing to the Pit. Jacopo wasn’t bound by the same restrictions though, and simply squeezed through the front gate.

The first impression of Uptown Jacopo had was that of how different it was from the rest of the city. The streets were smooth instead of filled with potholes, the building free of cracks and grime, and the people all smelled of flowers and fresh water. He immediately hated it.

He moved away from the gates and further into Uptown, sticking to what little shadows there were as he did so. The two-legs there were also different from what Jacopo had grown used to. They were more…distinct. Less mixed up as Dantes was. The tall pointed eared ones lacked any evidence of tusks, the wide short ones had no purple or green in their beards, and the human ones were distinctly uninteresting to look at, though they seemed to cover themselves in much finer cloths to compensate.

If Jacopo had been a two-leg, or cared to more to learn about them, he may have known that having a nobility made up of so many different races was a very rare thing. Most nations' ruling class were made up of only one or two separate races, but Rendhold was different. When Rendhold had been founded, it had no nobles. It was ruled by the people, and existed a border city between two small kingdoms. Because of the murkiness of the authority and ownership surrounding the city, it became a popular place for exiled nobles and politicians to make their home, bringing with themselves vast resources. Those nobles were from many different lines, but eventually they all agreed that Rendhold had tremendous potential. Over time they slowly took over the city and made themselves the new ruling class, establishing a new nobility. Exiled nobles or second sons could still be granted noble status and protection when moving to Rendhold, for a price. The council still only allowed those of noble blood to serve. Jacopo didn’t know or care about any of this of course. He was a rat, and had more practical concerns that just so happened to be occasionally superseded by his soulbinding to a two-leg.

The buildings were also very different from what he’d grown used to. They were larger, and each of them had a distinct look to it. The green and tusked two legs seemed to mostly congregate around the buildings made of stone with narrow windows, some barely big enough for Jacopo to fit through, the squat ones favored low stone buildings that seemed to continue underground, and the tall and pointer eared ones favored spindly homes of wood that seemed higher than should be possible, and were surrounded by fresh gardens.

From what he’d gotten from Dantes, this area was where the newest and poorest nobles lived, and where the great market connected to the rest of the city. He needed to go deeper in, closer to the Mage Towers to find the administrative district.

He wove through alleys nicer than the main roads in midtown, and avoided a fat cat by jumping through some narrow fencing that it couldn’t get through, before making it to his goal. The buildings there were very different to the others he’d seen in midtown. Built of black stone, high and imperious, with white accent columns and gold icons. In the center of the square were a series of statues of all of the gods involved in governance. The Father, Justice, and a smattering of others that Jacopo had no clue about as he didn’t much care about what gods the two-legged races worshiped.

He made his way to the statues in the center, climbing the largest of them, the Father, and hunching down on his shoulders to watch the square. It was midday, and busy, and he extended his senses out, reaching out to other rats, bats, and roaches in the area to watch everything from multiple angles. He could not hold as many eyes in his mind as Dantes could, but his ability to inhabit them and read their senses was much keener, so more than made up for it. There were far fewer vermin in this part of the city, another reason to dislike it, and he found that much like the bakeries he’d attempted to burgle in midtown, every building was sealed from the rats he sent to test their entrances.

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He brought up in his mind the images of the people he was looking for. The female magister who had bound Syn to the Pit, and Danglars. He sat and scanned for a long time. He wished Dantes had the sense to provide him with a scent for either of them. He supposed the strange shapeshifting woman probably couldn’t have helped with that, but Danglars he was certain Dantes had known well enough to be aware of his smell. He sent his senses out to check on Dantes who allowed him with a mental handshake.The connection took more effort at this distance, but it was possible with some focus from both of them.

Dantes was looking at the cards in his hand. Jacopo had no idea what he was looking at, but got the impression that Dantes was satisfied with what he had.

“Any luck so far?” asked Dantes as he tossed a couple silver into a pile in some type of odd ritual that Jacopo didn’t bother asking for clarification on.

“No. I am here, but neither of the two-legs have appeared.”

Dantes took a sip of his drink. “Well, even if you don’t locate either of them, I should have a way to break the enchantment that keeps you from entering certain buildings soon. It would help to know either of their locations first though.”

Jacopo gave a mental nod. That was the reason he agreed to do this instead of what he’d originally had planned for the day, feeding, fighting, and fucking. He wanted no place to be barred from him.

Dantes lifted a new hand up in front of his face, and expertly kept a neutral expression despite the terrible hand he’d drawn. “I need my focus back here. Give it a bit more time, a couple hours. If they don’t show up, I’ll meet you back at the garden.”

Jacopo broke the connection without the courtesy of a goodbye. Such things didn’t really matter to him, and returned his focus to the square in front of him. After another hour of watching, he found Danglars.

Jacopo didn’t recognize him at first, Dantes’ memories were dated. While Danglars had been on the tall side, just a bit shorter than Mondego, and skinny, his posture had deteriorated and his waistline had nearly doubled from what it had been. His dark blue hair, the only real indication of his distant gnomish ancestry, had begun to recede as well, making an already steep widows peak particularly precarious.

Jacopo leapt down from the statue of the Father and weaved his way through the legs of the crowd. Unlike in Midtown, the people of Uptown didn’t look down. They were unconcerned with what was below them, and unlike Midtowners didn’t need to worry so much about what they might step in.

He made it to Danglar’s vicinity and began following him, listening in on his conversation. He was speaking to three young female attendants that all had red hair, though they were each of a different race.

“-make sure to push back my meeting with Cerpin tomorrow.”

“For what reason sir?”

“Whoring, but make up a better excuse than that.”

“Yes, sir.”

“I also need you to prepare a brief regarding the land deal, but make it a bad one. The opposing party gave me a tasty bribe.”

“Yes, sir. Would you like us to handle the meeting with the dock authorities as well?”

Danglars stopped. “No…I’ll handle that as always.”

Jacopo tailed them until they reached one of the lower black buildings, there were words written outside, but Jacopo couldn’t read unless Dantes was there to interpret it with him.

“Have a meal brought to me in my office. Something fatty and decadent.”

“Yes, sir.”

“And…” he looked over each of the women, his eyes settling on the human one. “Desha, join me in my office would you?”

The woman swallowed. “Are you sure sir? You have your appointment with Dosia at the ‘Cruel lady’? Should you not save your energy?”

“I will decide what I have energy for.”

“Yes, sir.” The woman looked thoroughly depressed and the other two relieved as they walked inside. Jacopo took note of the building, and attempted to enter it, finding it blocked just as the others had been. Still, he’d gotten what he’d come for, and Dantes owed him some fine food and drink for his effort. He quickly made his way out of Uptown, and got back onto the dirtier unkempt streets that he’d begun to consider home.

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